Le Van and Ho Minh Go Fishing
by OldSFfan
Summary: Le Van must ask for String's help when trouble occurs on a fishing trip.


Disclaimer: These characters and original scenario belong to the copyright holders. I'm just getting them off the shelf to visit with them for a while. Le Van was introduced in the episode, "Half Pint," and returns in the episode, "Birds of Paradise," where String promises to be his Dad if his real mother or father cannot be found. Ho Minh Roper is introduced in the episode "Daddy's Gone A Hunt'n." This story is set in part a couple years after "Blackjack," and in part about thirty years after the events of "Birds of Paradise" and "Blackjack" and five years after my story, "A Delayed Triumph."

There are a number of original characters, because the characters have had children, and some have had children of their own. String and Cait's brood consists of four children: Le Van, a physicist; daughter Jeanne, a Navy fighter jet pilot recently transferred to the Coast Guard to fly helicopters, who is married to Basilio Santos, another Navy pilot; son, Patrick, a family practice physician; and a surprise when Cait is 44 and String 50, another son, Daniel Dominic. Le and his wife, Sherri, a veterinarian, have two children, Tiffany and Michael. Ho Minh Roper is married with a daughter. Pets, alive and dead, were mentioned in earlier stories. Because there's enough tragedy in real life, all of the human series characters are still around, including Dominic, who is in his mid-nineties, as is Ernest Borgnine, who turned 95 the week that this fan fic was published.

Dedicated to my husband, who served in Viet Nam before Stringfellow Hawke.

* * *

><p>Le Van and Ho Minh Go Fishing<p>

The satellite phone rang just before six thirty. Caitlin Hawke was pouring a second cup of coffee for herself and her husband Stringfellow, after serving Daniel Dominic a hardboiled egg, toast, and orange juice.

She looked at the caller ID. "Le?" she asked, as she picked up the receiver. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Mom. Put the phone on speaker, will you? I wanted to call you before you turned on the news or left to fly into town."

"News?" She switched on the speaker. "What about the news?"

"Well, three hours ago I got a call from Stockholm."

"Stockholm," she repeated. It registered. "Le Van, you talk to me right now, y'hear."

"Yes, Ma'am." He paused, then, "Mom, Dad, Danny, I am going to receive the Nobel Prize for Physics." Into the stunned silence, he said, "Are you still there?"

String cleared his throat. "Le, that's wonderful. Congratulations, son. Congratulations."

"Thank you, Dad."

"How many people are sharing it?"

"Two, myself and my colleague Arianna Dobramovich at Cambridge University, for the work we published four years ago, on the new subatomic particle we found while we were trying to detect the Higgs Boson on the Large Hadron Collider, and how the work impacted understanding of string theory." He paused. "That's a mouthful at six in the morning."

"Le," Cait said, as the tears began to run down her face, "we are so proud of you."

"Actually," String said, "I have always been proud of you."

"It's also a tribute to you, Dad. I'm the luckiest man on the planet. I was the day you took me in."

"Aw, that's mushy stuff," Danny objected. "But Le, that's really, really neat!"

"That's calling it, Danny," String said. "Le, we've got to go if Danny is going to get to school on time. Call Dominic, though you might wait. It's hard for him and Toni to wake up, these days."

"I'll call Grandpa Dom from the office. I still have to teach my Physics 101 class this morning."

"Ouch," Cait said sympathetically. "I guess Nobel Prize winners aren't exactly a novelty at Cal Tech, are they? It's your news to share, so be sure to call Jeanny and Patrick. Congratulations, Professor Hawke. Love to Sherri and the kids."

"Mom, Dad, go ahead and call everybody. It's fine with me. Love you."

Le hung up. String said "Wow," then turned to Cait, pulled the coffee cup out of her hand, and kissed her. He grabbed his coffee and downed the rest of it and shook his head as he put the mug in the sink. He refilled the dog's water bowl and set it back on the floor, and the cat's bowl on the counter out of reach of the dog. "Who knew, thirty years ago, that Half Pint was going to turn into the man we just talked to? But you know, I think we did. The first time I saw him, he was playing a game with other kids, bouncing coins off a wall. He always won. Now he's bouncing subatomic particles around. Remember how he was my partner when we were looking for his aunt? And those science fair projects he worked on in high school?"

String gave his youngest son a quick hug around his shoulders. "You're going to have some interesting conversations at school today." When the lanky fifteen-year-old stood up, he was as tall as his father.

The family moved toward the cabin door. Danny asked, "Can I fly?"

"We're running a little late," Cait said. "I better do the flying this morning. Did you remember your homework? How about your lunch?"

"Oh," Danny said, and ran to the refrigerator. He threw his lunch bag into his pack on top of the textbooks and notebooks. He carried his violin in its case separately from his pack. The family piled into the helicopter for the trip down the mountain. String had run the pre-flight an hour before. Cait lifted off into the beautiful morning over Eagle Lake.

After his eight o'clock Physics 101 class, where Le Van was greeted by a standing ovation, Le found that the department had organized a small reception for him. He exchanged e-mails and then a phone call with his colleague and co-Nobelist in England. Then there was a graduate class to meet, and office hours, lunch with the department chair, dean, and college president, some time sitting in on the lab taught by his teaching assistant, and only by mid-afternoon was he able to go into his office, close the door, and lean back in the chair behind his desk. He checked in with his wife, Sherri, who had picked up their daughter Tiffany at school. Le would pick up their son Dominic at the usual time from the on-campus daycare center. Then it was time to call his best friend.

Stringfellow Ho Minh Roper picked up on the second ring at his small aircraft design firm in Culver City. "Hello Le," he said. "I was wondering when you'd call. Quite a day. My heartiest congratulations."

"Thank you. It has been quite a day. It's starting to catch up with me. The phone call from Stockholm woke Sherri and me at 3:30, I called my folks at six-thirty and Grandpa Dominic at seven-thirty. They called everybody else."

"Did you know they're celebrating your Nobel in Vietnam? It's their first one, except for that Peace Prize many years ago. Never mind you're only half Vietnamese and have lived here most of your life. Of course, you're Saint John Hawke's nephew, and they regard him as one of their own, too."

"Vietnam. I hadn't thought of that. "

"Le, remember that time you and I and your Dad searched for my Dad up in the Medicine Lake Highlands? Almost thirty years ago, wasn't it?"

"Yeah. We made a pretty good team. We still do; otherwise our wives wouldn't let us go fishing together."

"Are we still on for that trip up to Doc's in a couple weeks?" Ho Minh asked.

"Absolutely. I need it. Are you still good to go?"

"I've been sorting my fishing gear."

"Good. Anyway, we'll probably have some sort of family celebration this weekend, in the hangar at Santini Air or one of the relative's houses. That's family in the broad sense and you and your family are part of it. I'll keep you posted." A knock on the door interrupted him. "They're beating on my office door."

"Well, congratulations again, Le. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks. Thanks. It hasn't really sunk in yet. Well, gotta go. I'll call later in the week." Le Van hung up, turned to face the door, and said, "Come in," all professor once again.

* * *

><p>Thirty years before, Le Van Hawke, Sam Roper, and his son, Stringfellow Ho Minh Roper, were sitting by their campfire just outside Lava Beds National Monument. Ho Minh had been renamed Stringfellow after Hawke rescued him from Russia, but it was confusing when the Hawke and Roper families were together. They'd drifted back to using Ho Minh when Le was with them. Sam was telling a ghost story while they roasted marshmallows on sticks. An hour after sundown, the mosquitoes were buzzing around the campsite and the evening was cooling off. Crickets were singing in the grass.<p>

Sam stretched and stood up. "If we're going to have a decent day's fishing tomorrow, we'd better hit the sleeping bags. Come on, boys, let's clean up. We don't want to wake up with a bear in the camp."

After Ho Minh and Le Van got into their tent, and Sam crawled into his, it was quiet for a little while. Then the boys' laughter broke the night's silence. The beam of a flashlight could be seen through the orange nylon tent fabric. Another peal of laughter, and Sam said, "Ho Minh, Le Van, time to put those flashlights away and get some sleep."

"Yes, Dad," Ho Minh said, and was silent. After a minute, more laughter, then he said, "Sorry Dad. We're going to sleep now."

In the morning after breakfast, they stowed their sleeping bags and duffels in the back of the extended cab of the truck and split up to go fishing. "it looks like it might rain," Sam observed. "If it does, we'll meet back here. If you hear any thunder, you be sure to get back here and get in the truck, okay?" He gave Ho Minh a spare key.

"Okay, Dad," Ho Minh promised. Sam waved and turned upstream, khaki hat on, vest festooned with fishing license, flies, spare leaders, lines, and tools, and fly rod at the ready, wearing chest-high waders, heading to a stretch of the stream that was reserved for fly fishing, catch and release only. The boys went downstream with a pail, worms and their rods.

The stream bank was choked with brush so it took some walking to find a spot where they could get to the stream and have room to cast their lines. The hills behind them were covered lightly with pine trees. The bulk of the Medicine Lake Highlands shield volcano rose to the west. Ho Minh moved about fifty yards down the stream, bright blonde head easy to spot as he made his way through the willows on the bank. Le, small, slight, and dark, edged along the bank to the right. Both baited their hooks and tossed their hooks into the stream.

The thunderstorm started two hours later with distant thunder that got close very quickly. The boys were not fast enough and were dripping when they came pounding up the trail. Ho Minh used his spare key to get into the truck. The two huddled together, wet and shivering.

The storm was still raging a half hour later, and Sam still hadn't come. Ho Minh looked a little worried. "He should have been here," he commented."

"Maybe there was some sort of shelter up there."

"Yeah, Dad says that part of the stream belongs to the Nature Conservancy. There might be someplace to get out of the rain."

They retrieved their dry clothes from the back of the cab and wriggled into them with the flexibility of youth. The rain finally stopped. There was no sign of Sam.

"I'm going to find my Dad," Ho Minh said, as he opened the door and jumped to the ground. "You stay here, in case he comes back some other way."

"Oh, okay," Le agreed. "I'm sure he'll be back soon."

Ho Minh trotted up the trail in the direction Sam had gone, sneakers squishing into the mud.

When he had not returned after a half hour, but seemed far longer, Le Van pulled a book out of his backpack and tried to read. He looked up every few minutes. Eventually he started pacing around the campsite.

It was a half hour later when Ho Minh came running back down the path, looking panicky. "I can't find him anywhere," he blurted, as he skidded to a halt in the campsite. He bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"Should we find a ranger?" Le asked.

"How do we find a ranger? Neither of us can drive."

"Really? He didn't start to teach you?"

"I'm too young for a learner's permit."

"You still never started to learn?"

Ho Minh looked around as if someone was watching them. "Well, you know, on private land, on my grandfather's farm. It's not legal out on the street."

Le walked closer to Ho Minh. He dropped his voice. "I think you should go find a ranger. I can stay here in case he comes back."

Ho Minh straightened his shoulders. "Which way is the best way?"

"I remember passing a campground up on the gravel road, then we turned right onto this dirt road, so when you get to the crossroad, I think you should turn left. Maybe there's a ranger there."

"Oh yeah, I remember that campground. I sure hope my Dad won't be too mad that I'm driving."

"Well, he can't blame us for being worried."

Ho Minh closed his lips and blew so his cheeks puffed out. "Sure he can. Wouldn't your dad?"

Le looked down at his feet. "Yeah, he would. But I think he'd understand."

Ho Minh nodded. "I'm getting pretty worried. Okay. I hope I'm back before my Dad gets back. No, I don't mean that. I hope he's back by the time I get back." Ho Minh had started to spurt toward his adult height. He towered over Le Van, but he still seemed very small as he opened the door of the pick-up and climbed into the driver's seat.

Le was close to panic as the hour stretched by. He roamed around collecting twigs in the brush around the campsite. After about an hour, the truck returned to the campsite, with a forest ranger at the wheel and Ho Minh on the passenger's side. They both climbed out. Le ran to Ho Minh.

"Steady, there, boys" the ranger said. "Let's sit over on that log for a minute, then you can show me which way Mister Roper went." He turned to Le. "I'm Ranger Kinney. You're Le Van?"

"Le Van Hawke," Le said, the pride in his new last name creeping into his voice. The three sat on the log and the ranger listened to Ho Minh's description of their fishing trip and the time frame in which his father was missing.

Ranger Kinney stood. "Okay, I want you two to stay here for a little while. I'm going to go up to the area where Mister Roper was fishing. If I don't see him, I'll call in some reinforcements. I want you two to stay here in case he comes back, so he doesn't worry. Will you do that?"

Both Le Van and Ho Minh stood. "Yes sir," Ho Minh said, taking over with the benefit of his two year's seniority. They watched the ranger disappear down the path at a jog.

Ho Minh joined Le Van in collecting firewood. It was all soaked, but they stacked it on the edge of the campsite. The sun came out but the afternoon was muggy. Both boys were bored and tense by the time the ranger came back down the trail. He was alone.

"The rain washed out any tracks. I might have found where he was fishing, but I can't be sure. There was a tree that had been struck by lightning near the border of the fly fishing area. I'm calling headquarters to start a more formal search." He put an arm around Ho Minh's shoulders. "I'm taking you two back to the visitor's center. We're going to call your folks."

"But what if he comes back here?"

"We're going to leave him a message, but with luck the search party will find him and we'll bring him to you." The ranger lead the two dejected boys back to the truck. He pulled out a notepad and scribbled a note. He left it in one of the tents. "Let's go. I'd like to get a search party on the ground before dark. We'll leave him a better note and pack up your tents when they've had a chance to dry out a bit."

The truck bounced off down the damp path back toward the road and the ranger station.

Le Van sat in the ranger's office until he couldn't stand it anymore. Ho Minh had spoken with his mother, so Nhi Huong was waiting by the phone. It made no sense for her to start on the long drive yet.

Finally, Le Van asked the ranger on duty if he could call his family. The ranger dialed Santini Air for him.

Dominic Santini picked up the phone. "Santini Air."

"Dom, it's Le. Is String there?"

"Is something wrong, Le?"

"Yeah, but I need to talk to String."

"Hold on." Le heard Dom's uneven footsteps across the floor, the sound of a door opening, and his bellow across the hanger, "String! Le's on the phone."

After a moment, Hawke said, "What's wrong, Le?"

"Sam's missing."

"He's what?"

Le Van took a deep breath. "We went fishing this morning. He went upstream. Ho Minh and I went downstream. There was a thunderstorm. We waited in the truck, but when the rain stopped, he didn't come. Ho Minh went to look for Sam but he couldn't find him, so he drove the truck to find a ranger while I waited at the camp. The ranger took us to the ranger station and he's going to do some sort of search. They're going to find us a place to sleep with one of the rangers. Ho Minh's Mom is home right now. They told her to wait before she drives up here."

"Do you want me to come pick you up?"

"String, could you bring…" he stopped himself from saying "Airwolf" in public. "Could you bring the Lady and look for Sam?"

There was a long pause. "I think we should let the ranger do his job, first. I'll have to talk to Jason Locke to see if I can get access to the Lady. And if we need to come, I'd like to bring Saint John. Now let me talk to the ranger, okay?"

"You're not going to bring Cait?" Le asked, suddenly sounding very young.

"She's seven months pregnant, Le. It wouldn't be good for her to bounce around all day in a helicopter."

"Oh. Okay." Le handed the phone to the ranger. "My dad wants to talk to you."

After a few minutes, the ranger found the boys a place to sit. "I'm going to get the search started. You two can hang out here for a while. Ranger Barrett is going to get you something to eat and if necessary, she has a place for you to sleep tonight."

The ranger's quickly organized search party found nothing in the three hours of daylight that were left. They suspended the search at eight o'clock when flashlights were not sufficient for an adequate search nor was it safe in the dark, complex terrain around the stream. By then, Le Van and Ho Minh were at Ranger Barrett's home. They had had spaghetti with the ranger and her family, and were sitting in the living room trying to watch television. The phone rang. Both jumped up.

"I understand. I'll have them call their folks. Thanks, Ken." She turned to the two boys. "I'm sorry. They didn't find him. Let's call your Mom, Stringfellow, and your folks, Le, and let them know."

Ho Minh was close to tears as the ranger said something about searching the river to Nhi Huong. She planned to leave immediately on the long drive from their home near Edwards Air Base. She would find a motel somewhere along the way and hoped to arrive by the following evening. She would stop and call the ranger station during the day.

Hawke assured Le that he would be up the next morning with Airwolf and Saint John. The last thing Hawke said to his son was, "Le, let's make sure no one knows about the Lady. Jason said that it's very important. And if we find Sam, it's especially important that he doesn't see her. He and Archangel don't, well, they don't get along."

"Okay, Dad. I understand." He handed the phone to the ranger.

The boys used their sleeping bags on the living room floor. "Ho Minh," Le whispered.

"What?"

"Remember that super helicopter my Dad used to rescue you?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, he's bringing it up tomorrow, with my Uncle Saint John. But you can't tell anybody. Remember, Michael told you that."

"I remember. What if he finds my Dad?"

"He'll be careful not to let your Dad see it."

"Okay. I hate keeping secrets from my folks, but I can do that if will help find him."

"I sure hope it helps."

"Me too." He paused. "Le?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

The two boys finally fell asleep.

* * *

><p>The search began again at first light. The rangers invited the boys to join the search party. Walking upstream, Le Van was dismayed by the maze of twisted lava tubes that outcropped on both sides of the stream, dotted by caves that were openings in the lava tubes. A ranger mentioned that the stream actually disappeared higher on the slopes of the volcano, so that its true source was obscure.<p>

The search party paused to discuss strategy at midmorning. Sam Roper's fly rod and hat had been found on the other side of the river near a tree that had been hit by lightning, suggesting that he might have fallen into the water. The stream was still brown and swollen with rain from the preceding day. Part of the search party moved to check the bushes on both sides. There were no further finds when the three rangers and six volunteers including Ho Minh and Le Van returned to the ranger station to regroup and grab some lunch.

Saint John and String walked into the ranger station, both in Airwolf flight suits. Le ran to String and gave him a hug, repeated it with Saint John. String stepped forward. "I'm Le Van's father, Stringfellow Hawke," he greeted Ranger Kinney. "We spoke on the phone. This is my brother Saint John Hawke. We're the crew of a U.S. government project called 'Eye in the Sky.' It's a helicopter with some advanced search equipment."

Saint John added, "You can call the Los Angeles Police Department to ask about our credentials." He handed the ranger a business card. "The project is still officially classified, so while our project officer permitted us to come up to help, we have to use some discretion and keep the aircraft out of sight as much as possible. Why don't you show us what you've covered and suggest what areas you'd like us to cover. Some maps would be helpful."

"Glad to have you along," the ranger declared. He went behind the counter to pull out some topographic maps. "We're here." His finger indicated the area of the stream that they had searched so far. "Our volunteers have been literally beating the bushes along the stream. We could use you to fly over the stream to see if you can spot anything, then maybe you could get into some of this really difficult ground near where he was fishing. The lava tubes are so complicated there that it's almost a badland."

"Where is the search party headed this afternoon?"

"We're continuing downstream." The ranger pointed to a spot. "And here is where we found the tree that was hit by lightning, where we think he may have been fishing." He marked it on the map.

"Well, we'll do what you suggest and fly the river upstream to the tree, then keep going a ways if we haven't found him. How about the caves near that tree?"

"We've looked in some of them. He couldn't have gotten too far if he was hurt."

"Yeah. Well, let's give it a try. We'll check in with you, say in a couple hours."

Kinney jerked his head toward a corner of the room and led the two newcomers away from the boys. Lowering his voice, he said, "If Roper was stunned and fell into the river, well, it's so swollen and muddy that we'd be lucky to find him. With all the twisted lava formations in the area, a body could be snagged down on the riverbed and we'd never find it until the water got really low."

"Yeah, we understand that. But what about that other possibility?"

"Well, maybe he was dazed and wandered off uphill or upstream and fell into one of the caves. But it's been over twenty-four hours, last night was very cool, and he could be in real trouble by now. I don't know if your helicopter could pick up any trace of him if, say, he crawled into something."

"That's a real problem. The scanning equipment can't see underground or around corners." Saint John picked up the maps. "We'll start on the river, then see if we can see anything in the area around the caves. You say he was fishing closer to the west bank?"

"That's where we found his hat and fishing pole. There is a ford near where he was fishing. It would have been less than a couple feet deep before the rainstorm."

"Then we'll start on that side. Let's meet back here when we lose the light. How do we get in touch with you if we find anything?"

The ranger wrote down a phone number and a radio frequency and call sign. "Good luck. That boy is really suffering. I hope you find his father."

"So do I. Our call sign is on that business card. "

The brothers turned for the door. Le ran up to stop them. "String, let us come with you."

The habit of secrecy kicked in. "You know I can't do that."

"We've both ridden in her."

He stopped still and looked down at Le's upturned face. He glanced over at Ho Minh, and the terror he saw in the teenager's expression arrested him. "Oh, what the… Okay, you can come with us, for now. This is pretty painstaking work, but you might as well be with family. If you get to where you can't stand it anymore, we'll bring you back to the ranger station." He walked back over to the counter. "When the Roper boy's mother calls, tell her he's with Le's dad and uncle," he said to the ranger. "She'll appreciate we're taking care of him."

The four left the ranger station. "Where's the Lady parked, Dad?" Le Van asked.

"Not far, in a grove of trees under the camouflage net. We need to get back to it."

Saint John climbed into the engineer's station in the back with Le next to him on the jump seat. Ho Minh sat in the left seat in front. String handed him binoculars. "Let's go."

The search up the river was intensive. They zigzagged over it as they traveled upstream. Saint John said, "String, stop here for a minute."

Hawke brought Airwolf to hover.

"This is the spot the ranger marked, where a tree by the stream was hit by lightning." They could see the broken, burned skeleton of a tree next to the path by the river. "They found Sam's hat and fly rod here on the west side of the stream."

Hawke lowered to just above the trees and scoured the area back and forth across the stream. Then moving slowly he continued upstream. After a quarter of a mile, he stopped. "Let's check out some of those caves."

Another fruitless and frustrating half hour passed on the west side of the stream. He repeated it on the east.

They hovered again. "Saint John?" he asked.

"No good, String. This gear can't see past the ground surface."

"They'll have to search them on foot."

"There must be dozens in the immediate area, if not caves, low spots under lava rock. I wonder if they're all mapped."

Le Van broke in. "String, Uncle Saint John, can we try something?"

"Later, Le," Saint John said, preoccupied.

But String said, "Wait. Le, what?"

"Well, you know I was helping Dom with the scanners last week?"

"Yeah, he appreciated it."

"Well, there are four arrays."

"We know that," Saint John said.

"What if we change the angle on two of them?"

"Then we won't be able to read them."

"Not to change them a lot. Just blur the focus a little." The childish voice was frustrated.

"Why, Le?" String asked.

"To try to bounce the signal around corners a little. To try to see into the caves a little way. We're bouncing the heat-detectors straight down. Why not at an angle?"

"It's worth a try. Why don't you two do it?" Hawke took Airwolf into a grove of trees and set it down. "Can you realign them quickly?"

Saint John grabbed the tool kit and pulled the cover off the console. After a brief consultation with Le, he turned a small dial a very short way counterclockwise and another in the opposite direction. He closed up the panel. "It's not calibrated. We'll be lucky to see anything."

String lifted off again. They flew back over an area near the blasted tree, then flew across the stream.

"I've got a heat source in one of the caves."

"Let's land and check it out. Which one are we looking at?"

"Back by that cluster of three trees."

Hawke set the ship down. "I'll go."

"Can I come along?" Ho Minh asked.

"Wait."

String grabbed a flashlight from the storage bin near his seat, popped the hatch and approached the cave mouth cautiously, checking for sound footing. He stepped down carefully, was out of sight for perhaps a minute, then emerged running. He jumped into the helicopter as a furry face poked around the edge of the cave mouth. "A badger den," he explained.

"Then it works!" Le said.

"Yeah, I just annoyed a badger." He took a deep breath. "It did work. Let's keep going."

Moving slowly they found another animal den, several caves that returned no readings, then a very strong reading. "My turn," Saint John said. "Look out, Le."

Le hopped out of Airwolf so Saint John could get out. String handed the flashlight to Saint John. "Badgers last time. I hope it's not a bear."

"Me too." Saint John jogged to the portal of the cave and sidled past some bushes through the narrow opening. He aimed his light upward to see if he could stand in the cave.

A powerful light in his eyes blinded him. A voice beyond it said, "Don't move."

Saint John raised his free hand and angled his flashlight down. He could smell a campfire and meat cooking. "I'm looking for a friend. We think he might have been struck by lightning yesterday while he was fishing."

"He's not here."

"Did you see or hear anything?"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Hawke." The light was aimed directly at his face. "Could you put that down a little?"

He heard the sound of a gun safety being clicked off. The beam of light didn't waver.

"Look, my brother, my nephew, and the son of our friend are waiting for me out there." He jerked his head toward the shaft of daylight behind him.

"You're not a game warden? You're wearing a uniform."

"This is a flight suit."

"You're a pilot?"

"Yeah. Our chopper is out there."

"I knew a chopper pilot named Hawke, in 'Nam."

"How'd you know him?"

"He pulled me out of Indian territory. Guy named Saint John Hawke. Heard he was MIA."

"I was rescued."

"You're Saint John Hawke?"

"You want to ask my brother? He's outside in our helicopter with the kids. We were both First Air Cav."

The light dropped. "You're really looking for a friend?"

"Yeah. There's a tree freshly killed by lightning pretty close to where we think he was fishing. We're hoping that maybe he was stunned and wandered into one of these caves. If not, his body is somewhere in the river. I'd hate to have to tell that to his son."

"Have a seat."

"I can't. We want to cover as much ground as possible before we lose the light." He looked around the lava tube. In the immediate area it was high enough for him to stand. There were a few board shelves, a fire pit, stacked supplies, at least part of one hanging deer carcass very much out of season, and bedrolls. "You live here?"

"Just camping."

Wisely, Saint John didn't contradict them. He fished a couple business cards out of the breast pocket on his flight suit. "What are your names?"

"Jeff," the one holding the light said. He was bearded, in a dirty shirt and baggy woolen slacks. Rope held his worn boots together.

The man holding the shotgun said, "I'm Paul." He flicked the safety back on and lowered the barrel.

Saint John held out the business cards. "You're ever in L.A. and you need a hand, you give me a call. My family operates a flying service, Santini Air."

Paul took them. "Thanks."

Jeff said, "Hawke."

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you made it home."

"Thanks." Saint John cleared his throat. "I hope you guys do, some day."

Saint John turned to go. "We heard something," Paul said.

Saint John turned back. "What did you hear?"

"It was last night when we were coming back to our camp. Moaning. We didn't check it out. Thought maybe it was a ghost, you know. That Indian war was around here. The Modocs. They hid in these caves. We find their stuff sometimes."

"Can you show me where you heard it?"

"Yeah. Come on."

The one called Paul, dressed in worn and baggy clothing of indeterminate color, with battered work boots, led the way, the shotgun cradled in his arms.

When they emerged into the too-bright daylight, String was stepping out of Airwolf. "Guys, this is my brother, Stringfellow Hawke."

They were staring at Airwolf. "What is that?"

"It's our search and rescue chopper. Show me where you heard that moaning."

"We didn't go looking. But it was up that way. There's three or four caves up there, by that rock." He pointed at a black, twisted lava pile, too big to be a boulder, too small to be a butte.

"We'll check it out. You guys take care of yourselves."

"Hope you find your friend."

Saint John waved. The two veterans retreated into their cave.

Saint John said, "They heard something last night. Could have been moaning. They thought it was coming from up by those rocks. I'll fly. Le can monitor the gear. Sam knows you better than me."

"You got it. See you up there."

String walked rapidly toward the outcrop, shading his eyes with his hand, and skirted the twisted black lava pile to the right. Watching his footing carefully he dropped to his knees and used the flashlight to look into a hole that was at ground level. He reached in and brought out a handful of broken obsidian arrowheads. He dropped them back in, rose and walked rapidly to an opening at the base of the outcrop by a juniper. This opening was wider and he slid in. He picked out the narrow sides with the beam of his flashlight, and casting it deeper into the pitch black cavity, he saw something glinting. "Probably more arrowheads, he muttered, casting his light around the lava tube. The ceiling was barely high enough to stand crouching. The black lava rock seemed to eat up the light. He walked bent over toward the spot that reflected his flashlight beam and it resolved into a human figure lying on the ground in a shallow indentation on the floor of the cave.

Reaching the body, he realized his light had hit a fishing tool. He pulled the man's body over and it was Sam. The flashlight beam touched Sam's features, two-day's growth of beard, and a burn on the side of his face. Hawke looked for a pulse in his neck. It was faint, but he was relieved to find it. He scooped his arm under Roper's neck. "Sam?"

Roper's eyes fluttered open. "Hawke? What are you doing here?" His voice was barely audible.

"Looking for you. We're going to get you out of here. It'll just be a minute."

He put out a shaky hand and snagged Hawke's sleeve. "Wait."

"What?"

"My son. Is my son all right?"

"He's outside with Le and Saint John."

Roper's eyes rolled back and his head dropped back. Hawke set him down gently, then he left the cave as quickly as he could manage at a crouch. Airwolf was hovering just past the outcrop. Saint John landed it when he saw his brother. When he reached Airwolf, String said, "He's alive, Sinj. Le, would you get the first aid kit, a canteen, and a blanket? Saint John, call his location in and move Airwolf out of sight? Sam needs to be airlifted to a hospital. I'll wait with him."

Ho Minh jumped out of the left side. "Dad," he cried, and ran to the cave.

String climbed into Airwolf and collected the supplies. He gave Le a quick hug with his free hand. "Good job, son," he said, then he followed Ho Minh back to where Sam Roper was alive and waiting. Saint John returned to Airwolf and radioed the ranger station. Then he and Le moved Airwolf out of sight up the mountain. With Ho Minh's help, Hawke partly dragged and partly carried Sam out into the sunlight.

String built a small fire, wrapped Sam in a blanket, and sat with him and Ho Minh until he heard the evacuation ship. He waved the chopper into place near the cave and rode with the Ropers to a small community hospital in Weed. He spoke by radio with Saint John and Le.

Sam was suffering from burns on his arm and back, as well as shock, hypothermia and dehydration. There was a wide melted streak on his ruined rubber waders. His nervous system had gotten a nasty shock from the glancing blow of the lightning strike. However, his prognosis was good for a complete recovery. Nhi Huong, who had driven overnight from Southern California, arrived in the evening. She was relieved to be reunited with her husband and son. String agreed to drive the Ropers' truck back to their home near Edwards Air Base.

He met Le and Saint John on the outskirts of town the next morning, before they took off with Airwolf. He had three sacks of groceries with him, filled with flour, sugar, coffee, eggs, a slab of bacon, apples, oranges, and chocolate bars. Two canvas bags contained a couple new flannel shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants, a package of t-shirts and briefs, a package of wool socks, and two winter parkas. Two new pairs of sneakers rested on top. "I was guessing on the sizes. Take this to the guys in the cave."

Saint John handed him his duffel with his street clothes and gave him a hug. "Thanks, brother. They'll appreciate it. See you in a couple days."

String turned to Le Van and embraced him. "Like I said, Le, good work. Very, very good work. I think we'll be using that new adjustment. I'm proud of you, son. I'd like you to be involved when we calibrate the gear." String stepped back and waved to them as Airwolf lifted off into the autumn evening.

* * *

><p>A week later, Michael Coldsmith Briggs III invited String and Caitlin to bring Le Van Hawke to the office at Knightsbridge for a meeting. Michael met them in full Archangel regalia, white shirt, tie, vest, trousers, shoes, and jacket. Only his darkened eyeglass lens broke the monochromatic effect. He stood in front of his desk to welcome them, then helped to seat Caitlin in a comfortable chair. She was bulky, over seven months into her first pregnancy and grateful to sit down.<p>

When all were seated, he looked at Le Van and said severely, "Young man, I understand that you've been tinkering with our top secret prototype helicopter."

Le Van looked down, then he looked Michael in the eye. "Yes Sir, and it worked."

Michael smiled and said to him, "Indeed, it did, and I'm impressed. It was a simple adjustment and you were the first to think of it. Le, Hawke here will think I'm trying to recruit you into the Firm, but I am not. At least not right now. I am interested in our national security, and one of the things I can do for it is to support and encourage talented students like you. So if you want to work with someone at one of the universities around here, or maybe one of the national labs, say for a summer internship or help on a science project, I can use my influence to arrange a meeting. Please take me up on my offer."

Le looked to String and Cait, at a loss for a moment.

"It's a great opportunity, Le," String told him.

Le stood and in an oddly adult way, extended his hand to Archangel. "Thank you, Uncle Michael. I'll remember that."

Michael rose, too, and took his hand. "You are very welcome."

* * *

><p>Thirty years later, on the Saturday after the phone call from Stockholm, Le Van borrowed one of Santini Air's choppers and flew up to the cabin with his family, before they flew back down the mountain for the large family celebration at Saint John's and Ellie's home that evening.<p>

Danny, with Jeanny's husband Basilio Santos, took Le's daughter out in the rowboat, after String approved the fit of their life jackets. Inside the cabin, Le's younger brother Patrick sat on the floor playing with Le's son while Cait and Sherri looked on. Patrick helped the toddler rummage in the contents of the toy bin that Cait and String kept for the grandchildren. Le stood by his wife and son, absently petting Amok Time as she leaned against his leg. "I have someone else I need to tell," he told Cait.

She looked up. "I know. Maybe String will want to go with you."

"Thanks, Mom." Le grabbed his Dodgers baseball cap and walked out the front door. Amok Time moved to follow. "Stay here, girl," he told her. The rangy blue-tick hound sat down near the door, sighed a doggie sigh and stretched out.

String was sitting on the porch, keeping an eye on the rowboat. Jeanny, seven months pregnant, sat next to him.

"How are you doing, little sister?" Le asked.

"Besides feeling like a beached whale?"

"You look like Mom, when she was pregnant with you." He bent over and kissed her on the forehead. "You look gorgeous."

String turned to look up at Le. "Going to visit Tiger?"

"Yeah. Want to come?"

"I'll just keep an eye on my granddaughter. Say hi to Tet for me."

"I'll do that." Le walked along the path into the tall pines. Birds moved in the trees around him like a wave as he passed and some insects buzzed in the forest. The grove of old growth trees was about a half mile from the cabin. There was a narrow but well-worn path into a clearing in the heart of the grove where a makeshift bench was cut into the trunk of a fallen pine. A shaft of sunlight illuminated the bench.

Le sat down. He stared, unfocused, into the dark trees. "Hi, Tiger," he said. "It's been a while since I've been up here. I get so busy, with everything. But I never forget you. Tet, String says hi. He never forgets you, either." He paused for a moment, looking around at the sugar pines with their large pine cones. Some old pine cones littered the clearing floor, opened by squirrels. "Tiger, I'm going to receive the Nobel Prize. I know you wouldn't have understood what that was, but you would have known that I was excited or happy. But maybe you understand now." Le rubbed his eyes beneath his glasses for a bit, then sat in that shaft of sunlight, feeling the peace of the place.

Finally, Le Van Hawke stood up. "Well, Tiger, Tet, I've got to be going. Until next time." He pulled his cap off and rubbed his scalp. "Until next time." He replaced the cap and walked back into the forest toward the cabin. His family was waiting.


End file.
